Postmortem Antigen-Detecting Rapid Diagnostic Tests to Predict Infectivity of SARS-CoV-2-Associated Deaths

Fabian Heinrich; Ann Sophie Schröder; Anna-Lina Gerberding; Moritz Gerling; Felicia Langenwalder; Philine Lange; Axel Heinemann; Eric Bibiza-Freiwald; Dominik Sebastian Nörz; Martin Aepfelbacher; Susanne Pfefferle; Benjamin Ondruschka; Marc Lütgehetmann

doi:10.3201/eid2801.211749

Postmortem Antigen-Detecting Rapid Diagnostic Tests to Predict Infectivity of SARS-CoV-2-Associated Deaths

Fabian Heinrich
Ann Sophie Schröder
Anna-Lina Gerberding
Moritz Gerling
Felicia Langenwalder
Philine Lange
Axel Heinemann
Eric Bibiza-Freiwald
Dominik Sebastian Nörz
Martin Aepfelbacher
Susanne Pfefferle (Shared last author)
Benjamin Ondruschka (Shared last author)
Marc Lütgehetmann (Shared last author)

Related Research units

Department of Legal Medicine
Institute of Medical Microbiology, Virology and Hygiene

Abstract

We investigated the infectivity of 128 severe acute respiratory disease coronavirus 2-associated deaths and evaluated predictive values of standard diagnostic procedures. Maintained infectivity (20%) did not correlate with viral RNA loads but correlated well with anti-S antibody levels. Sensitivity >90% for antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests supports their usefulness for assessment.

Bibliographical data

Original language	English
ISSN	1080-6040
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2801.211749
Publication status	Published - 01.2022

PubMed	34726595